Use a Table Column as a List in a Validation List

This is easy to do but not as easy as you would first think.

me@jaykilleen.com wrote this about 7 years ago and it was last updated about 7 years ago.


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Given a Table named Table1


ID Name
1 a
2 b
3 c

If I want a dropdown in a cell on a worksheet that uses all the Names in Table1[Name] then you might think you can just add a validation list with the value =Table1[Name] as the formula. This won't work.

You will need to use the INDIRECT Application Worksheet Function like this:

  =INDIRECT("Table1[Name]")